alternation

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: al=ter=na=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

alternation, n. [L. alternatio: cf. F. alternation.].

•  The reciprocal succession of things in time or place; the act of following and being followed by turns; alternate succession, performance, or occurrence; as, the alternation of day and night, cold and heat, summer and winter, hope and fear.  [1913 Webster]
•  Permutation.  [1913 Webster]
•  The response of the congregation speaking alternately with the minister.  Mason.  [1913 Webster]

Alternation of generation. See under Generation.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

alternation, n. the action or result of alternating.

Idiom

alternation of generations reproduction by alternate processes, e.g. sexual and asexual.

THESAURUS

alternation

Lissajous figure, back-and-forth, battledore and shuttlecock, beat, chain, coaction, coming and going, commutation, complementary distribution, concurrence, consecution, cooperation, counterchange, cross fire, cyclicalness, ebb and flow, engagement, exchange, fluctuation, flux and reflux, give-and-take, interaction, interchange, intercommunication, intercourse, interlacing, intermeshing, intermittence, intermittency, intermutation, interplay, intertwining, interweaving, interworking, lex talionis, measure for measure, mesh, meshing, meter, mutual admiration, mutual support, mutual transfer, mutuality, order, oscillation, pendulation, pendulum motion, periodicalness, periodicity, permutation, piston motion, progression, pulsation, quid pro quo, reappearance, reciprocality, reciprocation, reciprocity, recurrence, regular wave motion, reoccurrence, repetition, retaliation, return, reversion, rhythm, rhythmic play, rotation, row, seasonality, seesaw, seesawing, sequel, sequence, series, shifting, shuffling, sine wave, something for something, succession, teeter, teeter-totter, teeter-tottering, teetering, tit for tat, to-and-fro, tottering, train, transposal, transposition, undulation, ups and downs, vacillation, variation, vicissitude, wavering, wigwag

ROGET THESAURUS

alternation

Irresolution

N irresolution, infirmity of purpose, indecision, indetermination, undetermination, unsettlement, uncertainty, demur, suspense, hesitating, hesitation, hesitancy, vacillation, changeableness, fluctuation, alternation, caprice, fickleness, levity, legerete, pliancy, weakness, timidity, cowardice, half measures, waverer, ass between two bundles of hay, shuttlecock, butterfly, wimp, doughface, irresolute, infirm of purpose, double-minded, half-hearted, undecided, unresolved, undetermined, shilly-shally, fidgety, tremulous, hesitating, off one's balance, at a loss, vacillating, unsteady, unsteadfast, fickle, without ballast, capricious, volatile, frothy, light, lightsome, light-minded, giddy, fast and loose, weak, feeble-minded, frail, timid, wimpish, wimpy, cowardly, dough-faced, facile, pliant, unable to say 'no', easy-going revocable, reversible, irresolutely, irresolved, irresolvedly, in faltering accents, off and on, from pillar to post, seesaw, Int, how happy could I be with either!.

Discontinuity

N discontinuity, disjunction, anacoluthon, interruption, break, fracture, flaw, fault, crack, cut, gap, solution of continuity, caesura, broken thread, parenthesis, episode, rhapsody, patchwork, intermission, alternation, dropping fire, discontinuous, unsuccessive, broken, interrupted, dicousu, disconnected, unconnected, discrete, disjunctive, fitful, spasmodic, desultory, intermitting, occasional, intermittent, alternate, recurrent, at intervals, by snatches, by jerks, by skips, by catches, by fits and starts, skippingly, per saltum, longo intervallo, like 'angel visits few and far between'.

Periodicity

N regularity of recurrence, periodicity, intermittence, beat, oscillation, pulse, pulsation, rhythm, alternation, alternateness, alternativeness, alternity, bout, round, revolution, rotation, turn, say, anniversary, jubilee, centenary, catamenia, courses, menses, menstrual flux, rota, cycle, period, stated time, routine, days of the week, Sunday, Monday, months of the year, January, feast, fast, Christmas, Easter, New Year's day, Allhallows, Allhallowmas, All Saints' Day, All Souls', All Souls' Day, Ash Wednesday, bicentennial, birthday, bissextile, Candlemas, Dewali, groundhog day, Halloween, Hallowmas, Lady day, leap year, Midsummer day, Muharram, woodchuck day, St. Swithin's day, natal day, yearbook, yuletide, punctuality, regularity, steadiness, periodic, periodical, serial, recurrent, cyclical, rhythmical, recurring, intermittent, remittent, alternate, every other, hourly, diurnal, daily, quotidian, tertian, weekly, hebdomadal, hebdomadary, biweekly, fortnightly, bimonthly, catamenial, monthly, menstrual, yearly, annual, biennial, triennial, centennial, secular, paschal, lenten, regular, steady, punctual, regular as clockwork, periodically, at regular intervals, at stated times, at fixed established, at established periods, punctually, de die in diem, from day to day, day by day, by turns, in turn, in rotation, alternately, every other day, off and on, ride and tie, round and round.

Reversion

N reversion, return, revulsion, turning point, turn of the tide, status quo ante bellum, calm before a storm, alternation, inversion, recoil, retreat, regression, retrogression, restoration, relapse, recidivism, atavism, vicinism, reverting, regressive, revulsive, reactionary, retrorse, a rebours.

Interchange

N interchange, exchange, commutation, permutation, intermutation, reciprocation, transposition, rearrangement, shuffling, alternation, reciprocity, castling (at chess), hocus-pocus, interchangeableness, interchangeability, recombination, combination, barter, tit for tat, cross fire, battledore and shuttlecock, quid pro quo, interchanged, reciprocal, mutual, commutative, interchangeable, intercurrent, combinatorial, recombinant, in exchange, vice versa, mutatis mutandis, backwards and forwards, by turns, turn and turn about, each in his turn, everyone in his turn.

Changeableness

N changeableness, mutability, inconstancy, versatility, mobility, instability, unstable equilibrium, vacillation, fluctuation, vicissitude, alternation, restlessness, fidgets, disquiet, disquietude, inquietude, unrest, agitation, moon, Proteus, chameleon, quicksilver, shifting sands, weathercock, harlequin, Cynthia of the minute, April showers, wheel of Fortune, transientness, changeable, changeful, changing, mutable, variable, checkered, ever changing, protean, proteiform, versatile, unstaid, inconstant, unsteady, unstable, unfixed, unsettled, fluctuating, restless, agitated, erratic, fickle, irresolute, capricious, touch and go, inconsonant, fitful, spasmodic, vibratory, vagrant, wayward, desultory, afloat, alternating, alterable, plastic, mobile, transient, wavering, seesaw, off and on, a rolling stone gathers no moss, pictra mossa non fa muschis, honores mutant mores, varium et mutabile semper femina.

Oscillation

N oscillation, vibration, libration, motion of a pendulum, nutation, undulation, pulsation, pulse, alternation, coming and going, ebb and flow, flux and reflux, ups and down, fluctuation, vacillation, wave, vibratiuncle, swing, beat, shake, wag, seesaw, dance, lurch, dodge, logan, loggan, rocking-stone, vibroscope, oscillating, oscillatory, undulatory, pulsatory, libratory, rectilinear, vibratory, vibratile, pendulous, to and fro, up and down, backwards and forwards, hither and yon, seesaw, zigzag, wibble-wabble, in and out, from side to side, like buckets in a well.